Black Boris
This entry describes a non-canon character. Black Boris is an 8th Generation(Achieved through Amaranth) Lasombra elder active in Eastern and Central Europe from the 17th to the 21st century. Description Tall, barrel chested and sporting a huge unkept black beard, Boris looks like a terrifying mountain man straight out of a child's tale. Despite a somewhat comical Russian fur hat, he seems to exude an aura of menace, and one will often see mortals and young kindred alike instinctively shuffling as far away from him as they can. Few know him, but many, especially in the Sabbat, have heard tales of a Lasombra that has been roaming the Balkans for centuries, dealing with the estranged Old Clan Tzimisce when he isn't out snacking on Assamites. Unlike most rumors, these carry more than a measure of truth, as Boris has indeed earned his reputation as the Black, in reference to the streaks of inky blackness that almost constantly plague his aura. Fiercly independent, he has been known to wipe out lowly Sabbat packs who foolishly try to convince him to participate in the Vaulderie and rejoin their sect once more. Despite this, his services are available, but anyone so inclined as to ask for them should be prepared to offer large quantities of blood and violence in return. Mortal Life Born at the end of the 16th century in what was then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to a Cossack family, Boris was instructed in the art of war from an early age. His large size and keen mind aided him greatly as he slowly rose to prominence as one of the notorious Lisowczycy mercenary group's fiercest warriors. His band became especially infamous for their monstrous methods of pillaging during wars with the Ottomans, and Boris and his battleaxe were spoken of with fear by ally and enemy alike. All this attracted the attention of a Lasombra who was traveling North with his pack in order to join in the Thirty Years' War, which was just brewing in Central Europe. He hired Boris' warband and for almost a decade thereafter, the large Cossack wreaked havoc as a pawn in the service of a powerful Keeper. As he began to age, Boris' ferocity did not wane, but his physical condition did, and the Lasombra, reluctant to lose such a powerful weapon, Embraced him. Life after Embrace Having always reveled in the instinctual dance of battle, Boris found himself strangely content with the Beast now residing inside of him. The Sabbat pack he was now part of found him to be a vicious but unpredictable companion as he slew their German Ventrue enemies and Assamite allies alike during the Cainite parallel to the Thirty Years' War. He did not kill them out of malice or spite, as Boris' primary concern was glory; it was a rivalry gone too far. As the war neared it's end the Saracens, still angry over some of their kin's deaths at the hands of supposed allies, exacted their revenge. On a particularly stormy night, the three assassins awaited for the pack to return to their haven and then sprang from the shadows. The fight was fierce, but the pack ultimately succumbed under the attacks of an Assamite elder and his childer. Boris, however, was delayed as he sated his hunger, and when he finally arrived to find his packmates fed upon under the thunderous sky, he didn't hesitate for a moment. The Beast took control that night, and the already wounded assassins all fell in his ferocious frenzy. Furious as he was, Boris commited Amaranth on all three, suddenly finding himself noticably more potent and due to their particular kind of Vitae, much quicker. Now without companions, the Cossack embraced his freedom rather than lament his solitude. He rode with various mortal armies at first, and returned to his native lands to once more battle the Ottomans as they invaded Moldavia. He met other wandering kindred at times and skirmished with many of them, though he did join forces with like-minded individuals from time to time, namely the wild Gangrel who roamed the forests. He gradually traveled East along the Danube, soon reaching the lands of the Tzimisce, who found his services of much use. He was often found leading cadres of their mortal underlings into battle or assassinating rival kindred, and the Tzimisce, being who they are, could easily afford him. For just under two centuries thereafter, Boris found himself powerful enough to do as he pleased, freely entering Tzimisce territoris and lending his services to them or travelling South to hunt for the Saracens when he wished to be alone. The assassins, constantly on the lookout for this hated Lasombra, were never hard to find. He entered torpor sporadically, first for months and later up to three years at a time, but as the world around him changed and was suddenly flung into a world war, Boris retreated deeper into the wilds, preffering a melee with a bear to a shoot-out. The second world war was different, however, as very few places remained safe even for such an elusive Cainite. Too old to even bother with mortal allegiances, he joined in the war on no side in particular, wreaking havoc wherever he went, but he was eventually discovered by a german flame-thrower squad and heavily wounded. He took refuge with a Tzimisce he had worked for extensively in the past and spent the next half-century in torpor. Ghouls Write the second section of your page here. Trivia later